Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Eugene Domingo: Success story of the decade

Eugene Domingo’s Kimmy Dora and The Temple of
Kyeme opens today to expected box-office history. As possibly the most
successful of imports from the legitimate stage to mainstream, Eugene or
“Uge” as she is lovingly called, has remained grounded in her craft, a
characteristic those trained in theater maintain to their dying day.

From her very first movie in 1991 as a housemaid in Regal’s Emma
Salazar Case directed by Joey Reyes, with a talent fee of P150 to P200,
Eugene looks back on those active student theater days at UP, when
Regal’s Mother Lily continued to give her roles adding up to as many as
16 films to date. On television, she started with the
original Valiente on ABS-CBN from 1992 to 1997. She gave substance to
her role as Rowena in Ang Tanging Ina series that started in 2003. She
has also set a record for appearing in six movies all in one year,
produced by different producers.

This year, Eugene returns to theater as PETA adopts a thematic take
on cinema for its 45th season (2012 to 2013). PETA has chosen an
uncommon way “of understanding and interrogating film through live
theater performances,” expounds PETA artistic director Maribel
Legarda. The season opens with a stage retelling of Lino Brocka’s
classic Bona, directed by Soxie Topacio, and closes with an adaptation
of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare as a satire on Filipino movies
in the ’60s and ’70s, directed by Legarda.

In Bona, Eugene plays the role Superstar Nora Aunor gave life to on
the big screen, an obsessive fan-turned-lover of a
sleazy good-for-nothing actor played by Phillip Salvador, whom she
serves with slave-like devotion until he tires of her, compelling her to
retaliate in violent vengeance.

PETA’s Bona, written by Layeta Bucoy, is a comedy drama of a
call-center spinster (Eugene) who is a die-hard fan of Star of Tomorrow
hopeful Edgar Allan Guzman, less frenzied for sure, but we are certain
just as evocative and symbolic.

Meanwhile, Eugene’s latest film, Kimmy Dora and The Temple of
Kiyeme offers the much-awaited sequel to the Kimmy Dora hit of 2009. Of
the original, critic Oggs Cruz had written: “To my mind, there are
better recently released local comedies…but Kimmy Dora with all its
unabashed nonsense and guilt-free drollery, is simply deliriously
hilarious.”

Kimmy Dora and The Temple of Kiyeme presents the same cast, the same
twin sisters both played by Eugene, the same writer Chris Martinez and
director Bb. Joyce Bernal. In addition, it has the element of horror and
ghosts, a trip to Korea to film 40 percent of the picture, not to
mention shooting in below 20 degrees Korean winter, after its producer
Piolo Pascual received an invitation from the Korean National Tourism to
film using the major landmarks of Seoul.During
the film’s media conference, direk Joyce and Eugene spoke of the
below-zero experience. Direk Joyce confessed they were close to giving
it up when the camera refused to work in the freezing cold Korean
winter. “I was just waiting for someone to say ‘I can no longer stand it
and I’m going home,’ I would say, ‘Me, too,’” she said.

Eugene recalled that it felt like she was doing her last movie, “but
many were helping us and the energy was what helped us survive.”
Underlining the importance of their lead actress, direk Joyce mused,
“Had Eugene shown any signs of weakening, that would be the end of the
shoot.”

Small chance of that, we would think. Remember, Eugene is a theater
actress. She never complains, is never late and can survive on Skyflakes
and the coldest of winters. Amen.